Chapter 184: Mourinho's Complaints
Chapter 184: Mourinho's Complaints
After seeing this result, Guardiola let a slight smile escape the corner of his lips. Although his gesture was subtle, the cameras captured it.
The representatives of the clubs present at the draw ceremony also showed a smile of complicity upon seeing the result.
UEFA knows how to play!
They have created an interesting group.
However, for Bayern and Manchester City, this draw is not bad.
The team seeded second in Group D is CSKA Moscow, a team that is not very strong.
The only concerning thing is that winter in Russia arrives early; by October, it is already a land of ice and snow.
In this situation, for European teams, it is very bitter to play as a visitor there in winter.
But if they are lucky and play against CSKA before October, then they will not have that problem.
The draw continued and Owen drew Basel for Group E, Borussia Dortmund for Group F, Zenit for Group G, and Ajax for Group H.
The fourth to draw was the former Borussia Dortmund player, Sosa, who quickly completed the draw, picking teams from the fourth pot for each group.
The final result of the Champions League group stage draw is as follows:
Group A: Manchester United (Premier League), Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukrainian), Bayer Leverkusen (Bundesliga), Real Sociedad (La Liga).
Group B: Real Madrid (La Liga), Juventus (Serie A), Galatasaray (Turkish Süper Lig), Copenhagen (Danish Superliga).
Group C: Benfica (Portuguese Primeira Liga), Paris Saint-Germain (Ligue 1), Olympiacos (Greek Super League), Anderlecht (Belgian Pro League).
Group D: Bayern Munich (Bundesliga), CSKA Moscow (Russian Premier League), Manchester City (Premier League), Viktoria Plzeň (Czech League).
Group E: Chelsea (Premier League), Werder Bremen (Bundesliga), Basel (Swiss Super League), Steaua Bucharest (Romanian Liga I).
Group F: Arsenal (Premier League), Marseille (Ligue 1), Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga), Napoli (Serie A).
Group G: Porto (Portuguese Primeira Liga), Atlético Madrid (La Liga), Zenit (Russian Premier League), Austria Vienna (Austrian Bundesliga).
Group H: Barcelona (La Liga), AC Milan (Serie A), Ajax (Eredivisie), Celtic (Scottish Premiership).
After the draw, the "groups of death" became clear, with Group F including Arsenal and Group H including Barcelona.
Apart from the teams in these two groups, the other teams are relatively satisfied with their groups.
Of the four Premier League teams, except for Arsenal, the other three teams have pretty good draws.
Manchester United's three opponents are a level lower than them. In the Ferguson era, qualifying from the group stage was very easy.
But with Moyes, it can't be said the same. He has no experience in the Champions League; his inexperience is his biggest problem.
Chelsea's draw is the best among the four teams. Except for Werder Bremen potentially causing them some problems, the other teams are not a threat.
If Mourinho doesn't make mistakes, Chelsea's qualification is inevitable.
After the Champions League group stage draw, the media from various countries reported on the event.
The Italian media lamented that AC Milan had such bad luck.
This is the third consecutive time they have met Barcelona in the Champions League group stage. They seem destined to face each other, but AC Milan always comes off worse.
In the 2011-2012 season, both Barcelona and AC Milan were in Group H, with one draw and one loss in their encounters.
Then, in the round of 16, they met again, with another draw and a loss, eliminating AC Milan.
Last season, they met in the round of 16 and, despite AC Milan's 2-0 home victory, they were crushed 4-0 at Camp Nou.
Now, meeting Barcelona for the fourth time makes AC Milan fans furious.
Why is it always them? Why does it seem like we are the easiest to bully?
But Arsenal fans think they have the worst luck, don't they?
Originally, as the only team among the eight top seeds that has never won the Champions League, pairing them with the other seven teams is a bit daunting.
But who would expect a draw like this?
Look who Arsenal's opponents are: the previous Champions League runner-up, Borussia Dortmund, the Ligue 1 runner-up, Marseille, and the Serie A runner-up, Napoli.
Wow! Although Arsenal is the top seed in the first pot, their group ranking is the lowest. After all, they only finished fourth in the Premier League last season...
After the match, journalists interviewed Wenger, who confidently stated:
"I have faith in my team; we can definitely qualify from the group!"
Wenger has the confidence to say this because, since he has been in charge, Arsenal has always maintained their place in the Champions League and has always advanced from the group stage.
Although this time the opponents are a bit stronger, Arsenal is not weaker than them.
If they can win at home, they will control their qualification.
But the British media don't think the same; they believe that with Arsenal's current squad, they are likely to crumble competing on three different fronts, so they are urging the professor to spend money quickly to sign players.
If the team collapses in the group stage because they don't want to spend money, it will be a great loss for Arsenal.
But after buying Özil, does the professor still have money in his pocket? How much exactly?
After all, Arsenal is operating with debts, and selling their captain is no longer anything new.
It is historic that Wenger spent tens of millions of pounds on Özil.
Asking him to spend more money might be a problem for him.
In the Spanish League, both Real Madrid and Barcelona are quite satisfied with the draw results.
Messi, the core of Barcelona, said in an interview that no Champions League match is easy to play, regardless of the group or the opponent, he will give his all in every match.
Although he said that, journalists noticed that his initial frown had relaxed, which shows that he is very pleased with the draw.
In the case of Real Madrid, the newspapers AS and Marca highlighted the encounter between Real Madrid and Juventus.
The two teams have faced each other several times in the Champions League, and what most people at Real Madrid remember is the 1998 Champions League final.
That year, Real Madrid defeated Juventus and won the cup after 32 years.
And now, it has been more than a decade since they won the Champions League, and meeting Juventus again, Real Madrid hopes to change their luck by defeating their old rival.
However, Real Madrid is not guaranteed to beat Juventus. Since the start of the new century, the matches between Real Madrid and Juventus have ended with Juventus winning.
So, this encounter is a rematch for Real Madrid.
Moreover, both Real Madrid's head coach, Ancelotti, and his assistant, Zidane, have played for Juventus.
And their work experience at Juventus was not friendly for either of them; Ancelotti was called a "pig" by Juventus fans due to his overweight, and Zidane was questioned by Juventus fans for not being able to adapt to Serie A.
This time, when the two teams meet, with the old and new grievances together, the stronger Real Madrid might not let the Old Lady pass easily.
After the excitement of the draws and the clashes between giants, Guardiola's Bayern and Lin Quan's Manchester City were placed together, attracting the attention and interviews of many journalists.
In front of the journalists, Lin Quan commented: "This draw result is quite interesting."
With this ambiguous response, he hinted that UEFA had set the stage.
And hearing this, the journalists smiled one by one.
A father-son showdown? That would be dramatic and exciting, wouldn't it? Even if the script is pre-set, they do not oppose this kind of drama!
The German media have mixed feelings. They consider Bayern's draw to be excellent and that they will pass smoothly as group leaders.
But Borussia Dortmund fell into the group of death.
Without Götze, it is not certain that they will advance.
And as for Bayer Leverkusen and Werder Bremen,
it depends on their performance if they manage to get through the group stage.
In comparison, the draw for Werder Bremen might be a bit better,
since apart from Chelsea, they don't have invincible opponents.
But Bayer Leverkusen is in a more difficult situation, facing Manchester United, they probably have a great disadvantage.
Their main rivals are the other two teams, which are on a similar level,
so it is difficult to predict who will advance.
After the draw, betting websites published the odds of winning the Champions League.
Guardiola's Bayern is the clear favorite.
Although Heynckes retired, the arrival of Guardiola and reinforcements like Götze and Thiago further strengthen an already powerful team.
With the base of Bayern's team unchanged and the players in their prime,
it is natural that they are favorites.
After Bayern, Real Madrid has the second-best odds.
Last season they were very close to the final, and this season, with Ancelotti and the addition of Bale, their strength has increased.
It is expected that Real Madrid, whose performance in the Champions League has been improving,
will finally achieve their tenth European Cup this season.
As for Barcelona, their team is aging and with a relatively unknown and weak coach.
This makes people see them with less optimism and their odds are lower than those of their eternal rival in La Liga.
After these three big teams, the two Premier League giants, Chelsea and Manchester United,
also have good odds, occupying fourth and fifth place respectively.
Chelsea has a good squad and has already won the Champions League two seasons ago.
With Mourinho's return, theoretically, their strength will increase and they have a good chance of winning.
As for Manchester United, although they are in fifth place, the gap with the top four is large.
Moyes' journey in the Champions League is not very hopeful, as this season his focus will be on the Premier League and they might strategically abandon the Champions League.
Surprisingly, Manchester City's odds are in sixth place, surpassing last season's runner-up, Borussia Dortmund.
Manchester City is considered capable of winning, their squad is strong, they just lack experience in the Champions League and knowing how to make all those star players work together.
This evaluation is quite fair, pointing out Manchester City's problems.
But whether they can solve these problems will depend on Pellegrini's ability.
After the draw, the schedules for the Champions League group stage matches were quickly announced.
Manchester City will travel to face Viktoria Plzeň, the Czech league champion, on September 18.
The first Champions League match is against a relatively weak opponent,
an excellent opportunity for a winning start for Manchester City.
The team is already preparing for this exciting match.
After the Champions League draw ceremony, Lin Quan and Guardiola had a brief meeting and chat before hurriedly returning to Manchester.
The next day, the matches of the third round of the Premier League began.
Chelsea, at home, achieved a narrow 2-1 victory over Aston Villa.
In this match, Aston Villa continued their trend of receiving cards, accumulating 5 yellow cards throughout the match, five times more than Chelsea.
Chelsea only scored one goal in this match, while the opponent scored two.
But in the end, Chelsea was the winner, thanks to an own goal by Aston Villa in the first seven minutes of the match.
To be honest, if Aston Villa hadn't given away that own goal so early, they should have been the winners.
Chelsea's performance in this match was very poor and did not look at all like an elite team.
They had more than 70% ball possession throughout the match,
made 17 shots on goal, but only 3 were on target.
And although the opponent had fewer shots, they managed 4 shots on target, one more than Chelsea.
The counter-attacking defensive tactic, of which Mourinho was so proud,
did not work when the opponent entrenched themselves, and the pressing attack resulted in nothing for Chelsea.
Although Chelsea has bought many forwards, none of them are effective.
Incredibly, Chelsea's only goal in this match was scored by a defender.
This made Mourinho involuntarily cover his face!
Looking at his forwards unable to score, Mourinho felt desperate and started to miss Drogba.
If only he had an effective forward, how could it be possible that they can't break the goal of a weak team?
Thinking about this, Mourinho was furious, very dissatisfied with the work of the club's sporting director, Emenalo.
If only he had brought Lin Quan to Stamford Bridge at that time, why would Chelsea be in such a lamentable situation, so devoid of goals?
Reality proved that Mourinho's complaints made sense.
The next day, in the match between Manchester City and Hull City, Lin Quan was on fire.
In the first half, in just 35 minutes, he had already scored two goals.
And at the beginning of the second half, he scored his third goal, thus completing his second hat-trick since joining Manchester City.
In three matches, Lin Quan has scored 8 goals, more than the entire Chelsea team and double.
With his excellent performance, Lin Quan has proven that Mourinho's eyes were not wrong.
He also proved that Mansour's initial investment in him was worth it.
If other teams were given another chance, surely everyone would be competing to spend that money!
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